I discovered Garrison Keillor a long time ago. How a Western Canadian Prairie boy came across Keillor , I'll never know. I think I came across MPR a few times when I was living in the Arctic and was bored and had been going through various radio frequencies. Somehow I landed on MPR (Minnesota Public Radio.)
Keillor told stories based on a fictional Lake Wobegon community. He had many characters in the community and it was always funny. It was similar to Canada's Stuart Mclean who had a fictional community of neighbors. Both included much music in their shows. Keillor also had A Prairie Home Companion.
Check out Keillor's a young Lutheran's guide to the symphony orchestra. He also had a story about a college kid who was passionate about college radio. One day the kid had worked hard preparing a show but forgot to turn the station on so he talked to himself.
So a few weeks go I picked up a Keillor's Pilgrims: a Wobegon Romance expecting it to be humorous like some of his other books. The book was neither funny nor interesting.
Then for the first time I looked up Keillor on line and found out that he was not a very nice guy. He faced various charges about indecent behavior towards females. He had many conflicts with MPR and publishers.
So I find much of his material interesting, I was surprised to find that he led a very troubled life.
i was loving this until you reach to the end dear Red
ReplyDeleteit must be heartbreaking for his fans to find out that he was living an inappropriate life and was threat for females around him .what a shame .
Nature is ruthless in her works indeed and no truth has been made to remain hidden for life time .
i felt bad because i have been huge fan to some really great and influential personalities of that time ( early 80s to 90s) who have been presenting wonderful radio programs .they were established national writers ,professors and philosophers . I used to call radio second mother because i learnt so much from them .like many other fortunate i too would write letters to their programs that were red on on show with distinction .
i often think i will search what became of them when tv took over and charm of the radio transferred into fm radio that was totally a different thing
Public figures have a difficult time as they are always on display. It seems they are judged by a higher standard. It still doesn't excuse them from poor behavior.
DeleteFinding about his troubled life was sad.
ReplyDeleteI have a couple of his books ( can't remember offhand which ones but they were a good read) but really enjoyed the radio programmes.
They were on the BBC a long time ago.
Interesting that the BBC picked Keillor up.
DeleteKeillor is an interesting man, a shame how he treated females.
ReplyDeleteTake care, enjoy your day and the week ahead.
The name rings a bell Red but it may take a day or two for how I know it to surface . My 91 year old brain moves slowly in the filing cabinet section.
ReplyDeleteI now find out that he was on the BBC
DeleteI too used to listen to Keillor, all the time. Really liked his shows. Had never heard a whiff about all the trouble he caused; I think the producers and whomever had been trying very hard to keep it all under wraps. Was so disappointed; don't know whatever happened to him. Just found your blog. (Enjoying it very much!)
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting Hiawatha house.
DeleteI listened to him on the radio for years. I also didn't know anything about his early life. So sad, but he sure made a lot of people laugh over the years.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter, who knows everything, told me about his situation and then I checked and yes he had problems.
DeleteI remember listening to Prairie Home Companion on NPR (National Public Radio in the US) before he really hit "hot water" and was cancelled. It definitely reminded me of Vinyl Cafe with Stuart McLean. As for Keillor's darker side in his personal life - seems to me that many who excel in humor are often deeply troubled behind the scenes.
ReplyDeleteHe had his own brand of humor. You had to listen as there was more to it than just words. It was like rolling thunder as there was more than just words.
DeleteI used to listen to the Prairie Home Companion religiously from my tractor on the farm. I loved that show. But then the Me Too movement caught him up in a web and it soured me on him. I haven't heard him since.
ReplyDeleteOnce when I was in middle school, I wrote an essay that my teacher submitted into a state competition and I won. My reward was to spend an hour in a room with a long haired hippie looking guy as we talked about writing. It was only years later in high school that I figured out that writer, Garrison Keillor was a big deal.
To have that great in depth conversation and enjoy it..then find out who they were afterwards, is a priceless gift from fate.
Delete(My gift was a conversation with Edmund Blishen)
As with many talented people, he had a dark side. I guess none of us is perfect, but he was more imperfect than most! I always liked A Prairie Home Companion and I read his Lake Wobegon books, too.
ReplyDeleteBeing a public person he was on display and judged
DeleteI was aware of him but was never a regular listener. I didn'tknow about his bad side.
ReplyDeleteHe was well worth listening to and still is.
DeleteI haven't heard him much, but I've heard Stuart a lot and seen him in person twice.
ReplyDeleteI have 2 of Stuart's books and saw him once.
DeleteI saw his live show at the Chautauqua Institute. It was funny stuff and we enjoyed ourselves very much. Disappointing to find out that he's not as nice as he would appear.
ReplyDeleteKeillor wanted to present a positive image with his religious references. Maybe he was trying to cover things up.
ReplyDeleteThe conflict between Garrison Keillor and MPR highlights the complexities and challenges organizations face when addressing allegations of inappropriate behavior, especially in the context of changing societal norms around workplace conduct and the #MeToo movement.
ReplyDeleteHe was a funny guy, we used to listen to theLake Wobegon Days. I didn't know he was a creep.
ReplyDeleteHe would say "A Dirty Ole Man" if he were describing someone other than himself.
ReplyDeleteRed, this post brought back memories for me as on Saturday evenings we would listen to Garrison Keillor on NPR at dinnertime. We found his characters and stories very entertaining. We've watched a film, Prairie Home Companion, which was based on the show. As for his personal life, I heard there were some unsavory issues concerning Keillor. All of this surfaced long after we had already moved and were no longer listeners. All I know is that we had many an enjoyable Sat evening listening to the radio stories.
ReplyDeleteGosh... I didn't know that about him. I'm pretty sure we listened to him on NPR a long, long time ago.
ReplyDelete